Here are the winners and finalists; the awards will be presented next month at a luncheon at New York's Columbia University.

Journalism

Public Service: The Los Angeles Times for exposing corruption in the small California city of Bell, where officials tapped the treasury to pay themselves exorbitant salaries. Finalists: Bloomberg News for the work of Daniel Golden, John Hechinger and John Lauerman, who revealed how some for-profit colleges exploit low-income students; and Alan Schwarz of The New York Times for investigating concussions in football and other sports.

Breaking News Reporting: No award given. Finalists: The Chicago Tribune staff for its coverage of two Chicago firefighters who were killed while searching for squatters in an abandoned burning building; The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald, a joint staff entry, for their coverage of the devastating earthquake in Haiti; and The Tennessean's staff in Nashville for coverage of the flood that blitzed Middle Tennessee.

Investigative Reporting: Paige St. John of the Sarasota (Fla.) Herald-Tribune for writing about the murky property-insurance system vital to Florida homeowners. Finalists: Walt Bogdanich of The New York Times for spotlighting medical radiation errors that injure thousands of Americans; and Sam Roe and Jared S. Hopkins of the Chicago Tribune for their investigation of 13 deaths at a home for severely disabled children and young adults.

Explanatory Reporting: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Mark Johnson, Kathleen Gallagher, Gary Porter, Lou Saldivar for coverage of the epic effort to use genetic technology to save a 4-year-old boy imperiled by a mysterious disease, told with words, graphics, videos and other images. Finalists: The Wall Street Journal staff for looking into the shadowy world of Medicare fraud and abuse in Medicare; and The Washington Post staff for its exploration of how the military is using trauma surgery, brain science and other techniques to reduce fatalities among the wounded in warfare.

Local Reporting:Frank Main, Mark Konkol and John J. Kim of the Chicago Sun-Times for their writing about violence in Chicago neighborhoods and the widespread code of silence that impedes solutions. Finalists: Marshall Allen and Alex Richards of the Las Vegas Sun for their reports on patients who suffered preventable injuries and other harm during hospital care; and Stanley Nelson of a weekly newspaper, the Concordia (La.) Sentinel, for his efforts to unravel a long forgotten Ku Klux Klan murder during the civil rights era.

National Reporting: Jesse Eisinger and Jake Bernstein of ProPublica for exposing questionable practices on Wall Street that contributed to the U.S. economic meltdown. Finalists: David Evans of Bloomberg News for his revelations of how life insurance companies retained death benefits owed to families of military veterans and other Americans; and The Wall Street Journal staff for covering the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico.

International Reporting: Clifford J. Levy and Ellen Barry of The New York Times for reporting on the faltering justice system in Russia. Finalists: Deborah Sontag of The New York Times for her coverage of the earthquake in Haiti; and The Wall Street Journal staff for its examination of the causes of Europe's debt crisis

Feature Writing: Amy Ellis Nutt of The Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J., for her story on the mysterious sinking of a commercial fishing boat in the Atlantic Ocean. Finalists: Tony Bartelme of The Post and Courier of Charleston, S.C., for his account of a South Carolina neurosurgeon's quest to teach brain surgery in Tanzania, possibly providing a new model for health care in developing countries; and Michael M. Phillips of The Wall Street Journal for his portfolio of stories about the war in Afghanistan.

Commentary: David Leonhardt of The New York Times for writing about America's complicated economic questions. Finalists: Phillip Morris of The Plain Dealer in Cleveland for his blend of local storytelling and unpredictable opinions; and Mary Schmich of the Chicago Tribune for her columns exploring life and the concerns of a metropolis.

Criticism: Sebastian Smee of The Boston Globe for his writing about art. Finalists: Jonathan Gold of the LA Weekly for his restaurant reviews, escorting readers through a city's diverse food culture; and Nicolai Ouroussoff of The New York Times for his architectural criticism, including essays on the burst of architectural projects in oil-rich Middle East countries.

Editorial Writing: Joseph Rago of The Wall Street Journal for editorials challenging the health-care reform advocated by President Obama. Finalists: Jackson Diehl of The Washington Post for his editorials on foreign affairs; and John McCormick of the Chicago Tribune for his campaign to reform the Illinois public pension system.

Editorial Cartooning: Mike Keefe of The Denver Post. Finalists: Matt Davies of The Journal News in Westchester County, N.Y.; and Joel Pett of the Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader.

Breaking News Photography: Carol Guzy, Nikki Kahn and Ricky Carioti of The Washington Post for their photos of the Haitian earthquake and its aftermath. Finalists: Daniel Berehulak and Paula Bronstein of Getty Images for their images of historic floods in Pakistan; and Carolyn Cole of the Los Angeles Times for her photos of the Gulf oil spill and its impact on the surrounding communities.

Feature Photography: Barbara Davidson of the Los Angeles Times for her coverage of innocent victims trapped in the crossfire of the city's deadly gang violence. Finalists: Todd Heisler of The New York Times for his portrayal of a large Colombian clan carrying a genetic mutation that causes Alzheimer's disease in early middle age; and Greg Kahn of The Naples Daily News for his pictures about the mixed impact of the recession in Florida – loss of jobs and homes for some but profit for others.

Letters, Drama and Music

Fiction: A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan (Alfred A. Knopf), an inventive look at growing up and growing old in the digital age. Finalists: The Privileges by Jonathan Dee (Random House) and The Surrendered by Chang-rae Lee (Riverhead Books).

Drama: Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris, about America's sometimes toxic struggle with race and class consciousness. Finalists: Detroit by Lisa D'Amour and A Free Man of Color by John Guare.

History:The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery, by Eric Foner (W.W. Norton), about Lincoln's changing views of slavery. Finalists: Confederate Reckoning: Power and Politics in the Civil War South by Stephanie McCurry (Harvard University Press) and Eden on the Charles: The Making of Boston by Michael Rawson (Harvard University Press).

Biography: Washington: A Life, by Ron Chernow (Penguin Press), a portrait of an iconic leader learning to master his private feelings in order to fulfill his public duties. Finalists: The Publisher: Henry Luce and His American Century by Alan Brinkley (Alfred A. Knopf) and Mrs. Adams in Winter: A Journey in the Last Days of Napoleon by Michael O'Brien (Farrar, Straus and Giroux).

Poetry: The Best of It: New and Selected Poems, by Kay Ryan (Grove Press), a body of work spanning 45 years. Finalists: The Common Man by Maurice Manning (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) and Break the Glass by Jean Valentine (Copper Canyon Press).

General Nonfiction: The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, by Siddhartha Mukherjee (Scribner), an inquiry into the long history of an insidious disease. Finalists: The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brain by Nicholas Carr (W.W. Norton & Company) and Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History by S.C. Gwynne (Scribner).

Music: Zhou Long for Madame White Snake, which the Boston Opera premiered on Feb. 26, 2010. It's an opera that draws on a Chinese folk tale. Libretto by Cerise Lim Jacobs (Oxford University Press). Finalists: Fred Lerdahl for Arches, which premiered on November 19, 2010, at Columbia University, and Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon for Comala, a recording released in June by Bridge Records.

Source: www.Pulitzer.org. Copyright 2011 National Public Radio. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.